I have managed to accumulate a bit of annual leave and as I don’t have any big training projects on at the moment I decided to take a couple of days off.  It feels like it’s been raining forever lately so I couldn’t believe my luck when the weather forecast came true and the very first day of my extra long weekend was a beautiful warm sunny and cloudless day.

A friend of mine also had the day off so we spent it together visiting a couple of the beaches I used to hang out at in the weekends when I was growing up.  I had a great time photographing the scenery and retelling tales of my youth.

First stop was Mairangi Bay where we also enjoyed lunch in a lovely little cafe located in the Gables – a building the architect my Mum worked with designed and worked in.

There was a bunch of retired folk setting out on a walk around the rocks which my friend thought was cool – aparently people don’t get out quite so much where she comes from.

Next stop was the bay I spent most summer weekends sunbathing and swimming at: Campbells Bay, which is also the name of the primary school I went to.

From there we headed round to Castor Bay and up to Forrest Hill to enjoy the view of the city.

Next we drove through Milford and stopped to walk along the “Golden Mile”.

Our last stop was Lake Pupuke where the lakeside cafe was still open so we could enjoy a great cup of coffee.

Thank you Barbara for a really lovely day.